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Saturday, May 27, 2006

Realization Of The Day:I need to be in the garden well before 8:00am if I want to beat the turtles to my berries.

Yep, when Cary, Bear, and I traipsed out there this morning, little stainless steel strainer in my hand, this is what we found not 10 feet from the strawberry bed, head stretched out, soaking up the sun, digesting MY breakfast.

And this was not your average duck-in-the-shell-and-close-it-up-tight-as-soon-as-it-sees-you scaredy turtle. Not at all. This turtle was proud to have stolen my strawberries. It was not afraid of a farmgirl and her entourage.

In fact, it tried as hard as it could to swim out of my hand during our entire trip to its new home--which is located far, far away from the berry patch.

Oh, but the excitement didn't end there. No, no, no. Once I'd procured what was left of the ripe strawberries (leaving, as usual, the half eaten ones as bait), I set down my little strainer and went to work.

(The entourage waited in the shade.) And while I was whacking at some tall weeds with my hoe, look what popped out.

Now I'm pretty sure this little critter has never had berry breath. But just to be on the safe side (after I'd beaten down the urge to keep it as a pet), I decided to relocate it--to a nice spot by the spring where there is lots of shade and fresh, cool water. What I should have probably done, though, is packed it up, taken it to Hollywood, and sold it as a Stunt Turtle, because this was one very patient little sport who was perfectly willing to pose for several silly pictures. And I do mean little. (Yes, I even brought it in the house so I could measure it.) It was just 1-1/2 inches long.

Like I said, I'm pretty sure the berries were safe.

What a morning. You never know what you're going to find in the garden. Oh, and the strawberries (once I finally got around to eating them) were absolutely delicious. I kinda wish I'd kept the turtle, though.

I would have had to keep the baby and the other one is beautiful. If I let myself, I'd be one of those people with tons of animals like llamas and donkeys and sheep and turtles and cats..sound like anyone you know? ;-)

Oh, now I've got to add stawberries to my list! I don't think the turtles would be a problem, but I figured slugs would do about the same. I must say that little turtle is a bit more appealing than the little "Petunias" we'll start seeing here soon.

Thank you for the fun post. I want a little turtle just like that one. We don't have any around here, just zillions of rabbits, which is why everything I grow is surrounded by chicken wire. Does not look all that attractive, but I will not give up gardening just because those cute critters think they have an *all you can eat salad bar*

Y'know, it's fascinating for me to see the ways your garden differs from mine, as we're both growing very similar crops but half a world apart.

Here in the UK bamboo stakes are cheap and ubiquitous ... but turtles!?! Wow! We don't have turtles in this country. Certainly not in our strawberry patches. (Although the slugs more than make up for it, unfortunately.) I had no idea they were so destructive ... or so cute.

Haha - how cute! I never would have thought I'd way "what a cute turtle!"....

Hi Farmgirl Susan's Mom - see? We all follow her everywhere and love her almost as much as you (I wouldn't dare presume we could love her as much as her mother, but we're up there!). Would you like a white fluffy dog named Max, by the way? Let me know.

those strawberries look amazing! i'm so jealous...i guess i am among the many who couldn't make the move from city to country. what a great blog. i really enjoyed reading it. the little turtle is very cute...great pictures too! :)

Because I'm a geek, I'd like to inform you that you have found a Three-toed Box turtle (Terrapene carolina triunguis). I don't know about the babies, though. Most likely the same, considering their proximity. They look to be less than a month old.

March 2013 update: My apologies for the inconvenience - I know word verification is a pain - but I've had to turn it on to help stop the ridiculous number of anonymous spam comments I've been getting every day. Thanks for your understanding.

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